800 Squad
by SirPotato
Summary: The Sangheili 800 Squad is a group of rejects who just didn't make the cut. They've operated as a group of five for several years, but they're about to become a group of six. What will happen with the new rookie? You know the drill. R&R.
1. An Introduction

**The Halo Universe belongs to Microsoft Studios and 343 Industries. But these characters are my own creation and cannot be used without my permission. If you do use them without my permission, then Repora will slice open your body and perform unauthorised surgery. Enjoy the show.**

* * *

**The Sangheili 800 Squad**

**Prologue: An Introduction**

* * *

It was a common saying in the Sangheili Military that the most honourable soldiers are the ones with the most medals.

Unfortunately, some Sangheili grew up with their mother forgetting to tell them this.

Which was precisely why the Sangheili 800 Squad existed.

A few hundred years before the Covenant was assembled, there was a sudden influx of bad soldiers joining up, severely compromising the military, as the bad soldiers were currently outnumbering the good soldiers. So the ones controlling the military did the only thing they could do.

They formed a reject pile and gave it a fancy name.

It was called the 800 Squad because there had originally been only 800 Sangheili in the group, although there was some debate over whether it should actually be called a squad. But everyone agreed that '800 Squad' simply sounded better that '800 Battalion'.

The reason that there had been only 800 Sangheili was because soldiers were grouped into the 800 Squad according to intelligence (test results), field skills and mental health. If they were poor in all areas or downright **lacked **the attributes, then they were sent to the 800 Squad, allowing soldiers who passed at least one test able to continue.

With the 800 men assembled, they sent them all to a remote section of Sanghelios, where they wouldn't be able to do any harm.

However, what command failed to foresee was that putting 800 idiots, psychopaths and poor leaders into one place would cause a lot of damage.

So by the time the Covenant was formed, there were only 300 soldiers left in the 800 Squad.

By the time the Covenant went to war with the humans, there was only one soldier left, who soon died of old age.

You'd think that would've solved the problem, right?

Wrong.

In 2546, a single Sangheili soldier had failed in all three areas for the first time since the 800 Squad's creation. The Prophets didn't know what to do with him until some of the Sangheili remembered what they used to do and recreated the Sangheili 800 Squad, depositing the soldier on a planet with an abandoned base completely alone.

The soldier was immediately aware that the base he had been dumped on was a mess. The base was in shambles due to no-one repairing it, the area was snow-covered, making it hard to actually find the base and there were dead, rotting bodies everywhere.

This soldier was a productive one though. He made it his duty to fully repair the base, a task he knew would take months, even years, but he felt that he was up to the challenge.

The first thing he did was collect all the dead bodies and dump them unceremoniously off a nearby cliff.

The next order of business was to get the base up and running, a task which proved to be more difficult, but he eventually managed to get the AC working. He then went from there to get the lights up and running, then moved onto the Wi-Fi. Eventually, he managed to get the base completely functional. He even added a small feature to the outside of the base in order to melt snow during the winter.

It had taken about four months to do all this. By this time, command had found another reject to get rid of.

* * *

**August, 2548 (Human Calender)**

**1446 Hours**

**Somewhere in Slipspace**

* * *

Atar 'Kaham had originally completed all three tests and gotten into the military at the young age of (twenty-eight human years), wanting to prove his honour and glory. He had done so in multiple battles, very quickly climbing the ladder of success.

He had distinguished himself during the Human-Covenant war, in that time earning himself the honourable rank of General and the surname 'Kahamee. He had earned this for single-handedly killing a human 'Spartan' and somehow staying alive afterwards.

However, near the end of 2547, during the battle of Skopje, Atar and most of his men had been decimated by another 'Spartan' and had only survived by sheer luck after having fallen off a cliff.

His wounds were eventually repaired, but the field medics had noticed that there was a possibility that Atar might have gotten brain damage from the fall. Since Atar was a very good soldier, the head of Sangheili command didn't want to believe it, so he set out to prove the medics wrong by having Atar sit the entry test again.

Unfortunately, all he did was prove the medics right, because Atar failed all three tests, leaving no choice but to put him in the 800 Squad.

That's where he was going right now.

Atar was on a small ship, waiting for it to get to the planet. He was not happy about this situation at all. So someone falls off a cliff and gets brain damage. So what? He was still a good soldier, he knew how to shoot a gun after all, so what was this for?

Eventually, the ship reached the planet and dumped him off before leaving. He was allowed to take a few of his possessions, including his concussion rifle, his plasma pistol, his USB and his driver's license.

As Atar walked to the base, he remembered that command had told him that there was another soldier who lived there. He couldn't remember his name, but he did remember that he was quite self-sufficient.

He could clearly see that, since the base that had once been covered in snow and ice and dead bodies was now clear of all debris, shiny purple metal sparkling in the sunlight.

Or what was left of it, with the clouds and everything.

A purple figure was walking out of the base, looking at Atar, who assumed that this was the guy. He walked over to him and saw that he was a Special Operations Sangheili with standard-issue armour, except painted purple.

"Uh… may I help you, Sir?" The Sangheili asked nervously. Two years of being alone had reduced his sociability levels significantly.

Atar nodded. "I am General Atar, your new commander."

The Sangheili blinked. "Huh? Commander?"

"Affirmative. I was sent here after taking and failing the test."

"But… but you're a General." The Sangheili said, confused. "Rejects shouldn't be able to reach the rank of a General."

"Rejects also shouldn't reach the rank of Special Operations." Atar countered.

The Sangheili looked at his armour. "This? I got it off of a dead guy due to mine not functioning properly."

"…Oh." Atar got taken off guard from this, but recovered quickly. "Anyway, what's important is that I'm here, okay? Let's say no more about it."

"Yes sir."

"Good. Now what's your name?"

"Trac 'Erosd, sir. But I'd prefer to be called 'Tracer'."

"Tracer…" Atar would have smiled if he could. He was starting to like this soldier already. "Well Tracer, you've done a fine job of repairing the base."

Tracer perked up. "Thanks sir! But I'm not finished yet…"

Atar and Tracer quickly formed a good working relationship that was bordering on friendship. They both set to work on getting the base to full order, repairing the weapons, vehicles and even the minor things. But they both knew that even with the two of them working, it would still take way too long to get the base completely fixed.

Luckily for them, they would soon be getting a new teammate.

Miara 'Lano was quite rebellious, even as a child. She disliked that females had to stay at home while the males went off and fought, so she attempted to join the army. It took a while, but eventually she managed to get in.

To her outrage though, the leaders didn't like the idea of a female being on the front lines, so they automatically put her in the Sangheili 800 Squad.

Atar, at first, was stunned that the military had actually allowed a female in, but got over it eventually. Tracer was just glad for some more help and welcomed her as though she was an ordinary soldier.

It soon became clear that Miara hated being handicapped. She liked to do even the toughest of jobs and would obey any direction given to her. She and Tracer would usually spend time rebuilding the vehicles and weapons.

Miara, as it turned out, loved weapons that had something to do with fire, so Tracer used leftover parts from weapons and vehicles to create a flamethrower for her, which she was very enthusiastic about.

Over time, both Tracer and Miara were getting closer and closer to each other and probably would have become a couple if it weren't for a new arrival.

Utarz 'Lano was Miara's older brother. Both Atar and Tracer assumed that he was going to be similar to his sister. They couldn't have been more wrong.

Utarz, as it had turned out, had been forced to join the army by his parents, as they felt it was his duty. Trouble was, Utarz was nothing like other Sangheili. He had no regard for honour, was lazy, drank a lot and spent a lot of time in the brothels in the Sangheili underworld. In short, he was an idiot.

On top of all that, he was stubbornly insubordinate and refused to call Atar 'sir'. He soon became generally disliked by everyone and loathed by Atar.

He wasn't a valuable asset to the team and actually hindered them from doing their jobs rather than helping them. Unfortunately, the next recruit was even **worse.**

Repora 'Herno had a mysterious past that no-one knew about. He hadn't told anyone, even when threatened. But whatever had happened in his past had caused him to go completely insane and somehow lose touch with reality and physics.

When he joined the army, he got the test score of -18 (the test had ten questions), his field skills demonstration got the supervising officer murdered and when evaluating his mental health, the examiners simply put down 'N/A'.

His placement in the 800 Squad made a lot of soldiers happy.

To make matters worse for the ones in the 800 Squad at the moment, Repora and Utarz had a mysterious history together that made them hate each other intensely. Whenever Utarz would make an insulting comment to him, Repora would go berserk and go on a rampage that would destroy parts of the base, usually undoing Tracer's hard work.

In an attempt to keep Repora away from the reconstruction, Tracer rebuilt a Ghost ('forgetting' to put guns on it) and gave it to Utarz that he could use whenever Repora was attacking him.

At first, it worked. But then Utarz started using it when Repora wasn't attacking him. He would drive the thing anywhere, sometimes knocking other things over. These things were usually involved in the reconstruction some way or another.

So it was basically back to square one.

They lived at the base for a further two years up to the human year 2550 when they were told that they were soon to get another recruit. Atar, Tracer and Miara were desperately hoping that he would at least have some manners. In a vain attempt to make a good impression, they started to make the base a bit tidier.

As usual though, something came up to disturb the plan…

* * *

**February, 2550 (Human Calender)**

**1107 hours**

**Sangheili 800 Squad Main Base (SSMB 800)**

* * *

"**UUUUUUUUUTTTTTAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRZZZZZZZZ!"**

Atar looked up from the main computer.

Tracer looked up from the damaged wall.

Miara looked up from the collapsed tunnel.

One of the most predictable things about Repora was when he was about to go on a rampage. He would scream out something random (ranging from apple to Zimbabwe) and that was usually followed by a large and unnecessary amount of explosions or gunfire.

Sometimes the explosions and gunfire were preceded by Utarz riding up to Repora on his Ghost and saying, "You called?"

That was what was happening in this particular instance.

Repora stared at him, holding a heavy plasma cannon and a fuel rod gun attached to his back.

It took a few seconds for Utarz to get the point. "Oh, right! Shit!" He turned heel and zoomed off.

"YOU'LL NEVER ESCAPE ME!" Repora roared, firing his cannon.

In the control room, Atar sighed in frustration. Of all the days this had to happen, it just had to happen now.

The rookie would be arriving at the base later on today. They couldn't have Repora just shooting random fuel rods into the air, lest he kills someone.

Tracer and Miara rushed inside. They knew better than to stay outside during one of Repora's rampages.

"Gods above…" Atar muttered, turning to them both. "Tell me that isn't Repora."

Tracer and Miara looked at each other, then back at Atar.

"Sorry sir." Tracer said. "He's starting off with automatics this time though, so there'll be less damage."

Atar growled. "Off all the… one of you need to go and stop him, right now!"

"Shouldn't we let him blow off his steam this time?" Miara suggested. "I mean, that's what we usually do."

"And where does that leave us?"

"Almost all of our hard work undone." Miara replied. "But it's not as if we're not used to that."

"Yeah, we usually just work twice as hard to make up for it." Tracer added.

"We don't have the time to work twice as hard!" Atar snapped. "The recruit will be arriving here today! We need to contain this as quickly as possible!"

"Yes sir." Both Miara and Tracer replied.

"Good. I'll contact command to find out when the recruit will be arriving while one of you has to go and stop Repora. Understood?"

"Yes sir." Miara and Tracer said in sync. Atar nodded, satisfied, and left the room.

Tracer immediately turned to Miara. "Hey Miara, do you want to-?"

"Nope." She said, leaving. "I'll be sniper in case Repora doesn't listen."

"Thanks." Tracer muttered sarcastically.

* * *

Years ago, Utarz used to be terrified by Repora's hostility. However, two whole years of dealing with Repora's rampage for every two days or so had dulled the fear and was replaced by boredom.

Right now, he was putting little to no effort to dodging Repora's shots. In fact, he was pretty sure that he could dodge his shots even if he was standing still.

The same thing was going through Repora's mind, except it was a furious thought and one he didn't pay much attention to. Right now, all he was focused on was murdering Utarz once and for all. He had loathed him for too long and was going to kill him once and for all.

After all, who cared if he was a main character?

Then he got a lucky shot, or Utarz just fell asleep. Either way, a fuel rod hit the ground in front of him and Utarz, Ghost and all, flew into the air. He yelled and hit the ground with a thump.

Utarz looked at the Ghost and groaned. Tracer was going to kill him.

Repora chuckled evilly and took careful aim at Utarz.

"Fuck." Utarz grumbled.

"Well Utarz, it's been almost sixteen years now." Repora said. "Ever since that fateful night, I have dedicated myself to murdering you. And now, I will finally get that chance."

"Oh please," Utarz said. "With your aim, you couldn't hit a human spaceship if it was right in front of you."

"For your information, I was able to hit it after only three shots. So what do you say to that?"

"…Seriously?"

"Shut up." Repora said coldly. "Now prepare to die."

"Never!" Utarz shouted. "I will die as unprepared as possible and you can't do shit about it!"

"Well, that won't do, will it?" Repora said pleasantly. "I promise that if you prepare yourself for death, then I will kill you in the most painless way possible."

Utarz gave this some thought. "How painless?"

"Neck snap painless."

"Is that actually painless?" Utarz asked.

"Yup."

"How do you? Have you tried it?"

"Yep."

Utarz thought about it for a bit longer, then shrugged. "Well, okay then. I can go for that."

"Good!" Repora said happily. "Now prepare for a cold, dark void."

"Uh, Repora?" A voice asked from behind him.

Repora turned to face the voice, fuel rod gun in hand. "Yello?"

Tracer stared at the barrel of the loaded radioactive cannon. "First off, could you possibly put that thing away?"

"That's what she said." Utarz called up from below.

"I'll deal with you later Utarz!" Tracer called.

"It was pretty funny though." Repora said.

"Repora!" Tracer said sternly.

"Fine." Repora put the fuel rod gun on his back. "Happy now, you sissy?"

Tracer ignored the last comment. "What do you think you're doing?"

Repora thought about this. Then he said, "To quote another soldier quite like me, I don't think, I do."

Tracer looked around at the small amount of devastation. "I can see that."

"Then why ask?"

"Listen!" Tracer snapped angrily. "You do realise that the new guy is arriving today, right?!"

Repora blinked under his Ranger helmet. "New guy?" Realisation dawned on him. "Ohhhhh… the new guy."

"Oh yeah." Utarz said from below, standing up. "Forgot about him."

"Exactly." Tracer said. "Imagine if he came to the base with you blowing stuff up. Imagine what will happen?"

"Nothing much."

Tracer decided to spell it out for him. "You would have missed yet another shot at Utarz and hit the carrier ship that was arriving with him on it and then he would've died with his last memory being of destruction and pain."

"That good or bad?" Repora asked.

Tracer hated talking to Repora. He seemed to go out of his way to act dumb or to disturb others with his talk of his previous crimes against nature.

"Bad." Tracer hissed.

"Oh, ok. So?"

"SO," Tracer said with a great deal of restraint, "we need you to **stop**firing randomly and actually **help **us with the reconstruction of the base."

"But I want to kill Utarz!" Repora whined. "It'll only take a few minutes, I promise!"

"No it won't!" Tracer exploded. "You can't aim for shit! Your shots hit everything **except **Utarz!"

"Yeah, well…" Repora muttered.

"Look, all we're asking is for you to behave for the first few days that the rookie is here, okay?" Tracer said. "That's it. We'll tolerate that."

Repora thought about this, frowning (despite the fact that Sangheili couldn't frown). He was having trouble making a decision.

Time to call on Heaven and Hell.

A miniature version of Repora with angel wings and a halo appeared on Repora's right shoulder in a puff of white smoke and a POOF sound. "I believe you should go with him on this one. It'll set a temporary good impression." He said.

Another miniature version of him, except with devil horns and a forked tail, appeared on his left shoulder in a puff of maroon smoke, also with a POOF sound. "Don't listen to him! You're so close to killing Utarz! You won't have another chance at this!"

Part of Repora's psychosis involved multiple-personality disorder and constant hallucinations, which were Heaven and Hell. Heaven and Hell represented the good and evil of his conscience respectively, appearing whenever Repora 'called' upon them.

There was a third voice in his head called Purgatory, but he represented the neutral side of his brain, so he couldn't make decisions for himself, so Repora didn't call upon him very often, if ever.

"If you kill Utarz now, then the story won't be able to continue!" Heaven insisted.

"Bah!" Hell snorted. "Who cares about the story?"

Repora made his decision.

"Ok Tracer. I agree." He said.

"Ok, good, beca-"

"As long as I can start shooting Utarz after the few days is up."

Tracer sighed. "Fine."

"YAY!" Repora skipped off somewhere, with Heaven smirking and Hell grumbling on his shoulders.

"Thanks, man." Utarz said from below. "I owe you one."

Tracer looked at him. "You're welcome, I-" He suddenly noticed a purple flaming wreckage. "Huh? What the fuck did you do to the Ghost?!"

"Ah." Utarz chuckled nervously. "About that…"

Miara put down the gun as she saw Tracer march up to Utarz. She'd seen everything she needed to see and as much as she wanted to see Utarz's pain, someone had to report to Atar.

* * *

"I see…" Atar said to the Kig-Yar on the computer screen. "Isn't that a bit too soon?"

"Not my decision, dude." The Kig-Yar said. "What the Prophets say will happen **will **happen."

"I know, but still…"

"Chill man. I'm sure it'll be fine."

Atar had made several requests to get a different radio operative to respond to the 800 Squad's calls but they always got this incompetent idiot. Atar disliked him particularly because of his attitude and the way he got things done, which was over a long period of time and procrastination.

"If you say so…" Atar said. "Thank you for your… help."

"No prob-" Atar hung up.

Atar then sent another email that read 'SERIOUSLY, GET ME A DIFFERENT RADIO OPERATIVE'. He felt that should get the point across.

Miara entered the room. Atar noticed and turned around.

"Well?" He asked. "Is Repora contained?"

"For now sir." Miara responded.

Atar grunted. "Well, that'll have to do. Tell everyone that the recruit's arriving in ten minutes."

"Yes si- TEN MINUTES?!"

"Yup. We can't tidy up like we planned." Atar grumbled. "But we did our best, didn't we?"

Everyone hurried to the drop point, which was just a metal circle with the words 'Land here please', to wait for the 800 Squad's newest recruit.

* * *

**Author's notes**

**Well, ending was pretty crap, but I feel like this version of Marines vs Elites will actually go somewhere. Speaking of which, I don't intend to revisit the Marines. I didn't feel as if I would be able to continue with them. I mean, the Elites are better.**

**Thanks for watching.**

**Potato.**


	2. The NVP Tour

**The Halo Universe belongs to Microsoft Studios and 343 Industries. But these characters are my own creation and cannot be used without my permission. If you do use them without my permission, then Atar will find you and blow up your family. Enjoy the show.**

* * *

**The Sangheili 800 Squad**

**Chapter 1: The NVP Tour**

* * *

**February, 2550 (Human Calender)**

**1131 hours**

**SSMB 800**

* * *

"So…" Utarz said, trying to break the silence. "When's the rookie getting here?"

"Give it a few more minutes." Miara said.

"Ooooooooooooooo, I can't stand the suspense!" Repora said gleefully. "What will the new guy be like?"

POOF

"Maybe he'll be the intellectual sort." Heaven suggested. "The Forerunners know we could use someone like that."

POOF

"Maybe he'll like chaos and death!" Hell giggled. "We need more of those people, we don't have enough!"

"Actually," Heaven countered. "Repora counts as ten Sangheili in that regard, so we do have enough of those people."

"Ah, fuck you Heaven."

"Well, screw you Hell."

"Hey, what"

"Oi!" Repora snapped. "Stop arguing you two! I didn't raise you like this!"

Utarz and Miara looked at Repora strangely. Tracer and Atar completely ignored him and talked to each other.

"Do we know anything about the recruit?" Tracer asked.

"Not really." Atar replied. "The most we know about him is his name and military career."

"What's his name?"

"Zen. Zen 'Yurod."

Tracer pulled out a clipboard and a stylus. "Name… Zen… 'Yurod…" He said, writing down his name.

"Awwwww." Utarz grumbled. "I wanted a female arriving here."

Miara sighed. "Utarz, what female would join the army and then sleep with you?"

"For your information, I am very good at that sort of stuff. I once got a nun into bed **after **she had taken her vows."

"…Every single day you find new ways to disgust me."

"And what's his military career?" Tracer asked.

"He doesn't have one." Atar replied. "He's a fresh recruit."

"Prior… military…" Tracer wrote. "Experience… none. Rank… Minor."

"So he failed all three tests on his first go?" Miara asked.

"Affirmative." Atar confirmed. "He demonstrated complete lack of skill in all three areas, but afterwards, when he was told that he was coming here, he kept saying that the test was rigged."

"Rigged?" Tracer looked up in surprise. "What kind of Sangheili would rig a military test?"

"I would." Utarz said.

"Yeah, but you've been stuck here for several years and you don't have any friends, so it couldn't have been you."

"…Aren't you guys my friends?"

Everyone stared at him.

"Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh…" Repora said. "No."

"…I hate you all."

"Oh, here he comes!" Miara said, pointing up.

"Standby for recruit!" Atar ordered.

Everyone stood at attention and watched as the drop ship started to appear from the sky.

* * *

A dark green Sangheili Minor sighed as he saw the landing pad grow closer.

He knew that the test was rigged. He wasn't saying that the Prophets had ordered it so but he was certain that his poor performance was due to rigging.

Maybe his water was drugged. He'd certainly felt odd on the moment of the test and everything was swimming before his eyes. Or perhaps the weapons had been purposely faulty. After all, his rifle had jammed multiple times.

Above all, he felt that the questions in the test were completely unfair. How was he supposed to know who the eightysecond general in the whole of history was?

He had tried to tell everybody, but they took his words with a grain of salt. They believed him to be a sore loser. His parents had disowned him the moment they heard he was going to the 800 Squad, so he couldn't talk to them about his beliefs.

Eventually, he just gave up. No one believed him, so what was the point of trying to convince them?

He didn't know much about the 800 Squad, other than it was the reject pile. He didn't know anything about the Sangheili who occupied the base. He expected morons, but other than that…

Well, he was about to find out.

The Phantom landed on the landing pad, the doors opening. He was greeted with the sight of a Sangheili General in maroon/orange General Armour, a purple Spec Ops Sangheili, a blue Sangheili Minor, a (to his surprise) female, yellow Sangheili Minor and a white Ranger with inscrutable features.

It was truly an odd bunch of soldiers.

Zen stepped out of the Phantom and looked at the soldiers. The Phantom's doors closed and the ship left.

_So this is it. _Zen thought. _I'm stuck here._

"Welcome!" The General said. "I assume that you are Zen?"

"Yes sir." Zen replied. Then he asked, "Pardon me for asking, but how come someone of your rank is in the 800 Squad?"

"Don't ask, don't tell." The General replied. "I'm General Atar, leader of the Sangheili 800 Squad. I believe that introductions are in order."

"That would be nice, sir."

Atar gestured to the Spec Ops Sangheili. "This is Trac 'Eros, our Technician and Field Medic. He would prefer it if you called him Tracer, though."

"Pleasure to meet you." Tracer said politely.

"Same here." Zen lied. "May I ask, isn't a Field Medic the same thing as a doctor?" Doctors were held in low regard on Sangheilos.

"Nope." Tracer replied. "Doctors cut other people up. Field Medics apply medicine and kill the suffering."

Atar then gestured to the female Minor. "This is Miara, our Pyrotechnics Expert and quite possibly the only female Sangheili soldier in the whole Covenant."

"Hello!" Miara piped cheerfully.

Zen looked at her. "Pyrotechnics? That's a thing in the Covenant?"

"Well, no." Miara admitted. "I'm the only one who practises it."

"Sounds interesting."

Atar gestured to the blue Minor. "This is Utarz, the squad's local jackass."

"Hey!" Utarz snapped.

Zen looked at him. "You know, you should be more polite to your commanding officer."

"Fuck that." Utarz grumbled. "He's never polite to me."

"Except he has the right to be impolite to you."

"Yeah? Says who?"

"Says command." Zen said, already getting frustrated.

"Yeah? Well command can su-"

"MOVING ON." Atar said suddenly. He pointed to the Ranger. "This is Repora, our Demolitions Expert."

"Hello!" Repora said cheerfully.

Zen looked uncertainly at him. "Repora… I've seen your name in the news."

"Oh, thanks!"

"That wasn't a compliment. You murdered twenty-five civilians."

Repora chuckled. "I remember that. Man, that was fun."

"…Okay…" Atar muttered. "Something else to be terrified of." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, Tracer will give you a tour of the base. Won't you, Tracer?"

"Yup." Tracer gestured to Zen. "Follow me."

Zen nodded and walked over to him.

"Make sure the new guy stays away from my room." Utarz told Tracer.

Zen looked at Utarz. "Why would I want to go into your room?"

"I dunno. Just stay out of it, I've got some good shit in there."

"I doubt that." Tracer said. "Let's go."

As Tracer and Zen walked away, Utarz glared at the green form. "Atar, I think the new guy's a dick."

Atar closed his eyes, then opened them and faced Utarz. "For the last time, you address me as either general, or sir."

"Fuck that, you always call me Utarz."

"I am in a position of power. You are not."

"You know," Repora commented. "It's always nice to meet someone who remembers you for who you are."

* * *

Zen had already decided that he didn't like Utarz.

"What is that guy's problem?" He muttered.

"We don't know." Tracer sighed. "We're planning to get him tested for brain damage."

Zen looked at the impending base before him, although it looked more like a ruin to him. "Is this the base?"

"Yup."

Zen was silent. Tracer chuckled. "I know what you're thinking. You see, we've been trying to repair the base for some time now, but since Repora's arrival, he's been unravelling most of our hard work. We still press on though."

"How do you guys live here?" Zen asked.

"We turn the heaters onto maximum and move a lot outside during winter."

"And during summer?"

"Same, except without the heaters."

"Uh, huh."

"Follow me. I'll run you through the important things."

* * *

"This is the courtyard." Tracer said. "We have assembly here."

"Assembly?"

"In case of emergencies."

"Ah."

* * *

"This is the vehicle depot." Tracer said. "Here, we keep all vehicles that we've built or captured."

Zen looked around. "Doesn't look like there's many vehicles."

"Well, we have some. There's Utarz's Ghost, the squad Phantom… and that's it."

"We seriously only have two vehicles?"

"I'm in the process of building a Wraith… but it keeps getting blown up." Tracer grumbled.

* * *

"This is Atar's office." Tracer said, showing Zen a small room with a metal desk and a large computer screen.

"Huh." Zen looked around. "Neat."

"This room has a large amount of history. You see, we're pretty sure this is where the previous owner of the base died." Tracer pointed to a dusty Sangheili skeleton.

"GAH!" Zen jumped when he saw the skeleton. "How come I didn't see that?!"

"Dunno. It's easy to miss for some reason."

"Why is it still here?! You guys should get rid of it!"

"We would, but he's stuck to the wall." Tracer pointed to some heating pipes where the skeleton's arms were lodged firmly. "We believe that some Brutes killed him."

* * *

"This is the weaponry room." Tracer pointed to a room with hooks on the walls.

"It's empty." Zen pointed out.

"We don't get many supply drops."

* * *

"This is the kitchen." Tracer said, gesturing to the room. "Utarz makes the food here, although we don't get much to work with."

Zen blinked. "Wait, why does Utarz make the food?"

"Looks and attitude may hide it, but Utarz is actually an excellent cook." Tracer explained. "We think it's the Forerunner's way of compensating."

* * *

"This is the training grounds." Tracer pointed to a large area. "We have an obstacle course, a shooting ground and a fake base."

"Wow!" Zen was impressed. "This is actually pretty cool."

"Yeah, but we don't use it very often." Tracer admitted. "Atar gets tired of constant failure."

"…Oh. That sucks."

"Eh. We consider ourselves lucky."

* * *

"Up there is the sentry box." Tracer said, pointing up to a large tower. "It's pretty pointless because we don't get attacked. Ever."

"Then why is it here?" Zen asked.

"Atar insisted."

* * *

"This is the malfunctioning door." Tracer pointed to a metal door that looked perfectly fine. "We're pretty sure that Repora did something to it."

Confused, Zen approached the door. "Looks normal to me."

"That is a deception." Tracer replied seriously. "Don't open it. EVER."

* * *

"This is the bomb shelter." Tracer said. "We flee here if we're getting bombed by someone or something."

Zen said, "We're the reject pile. No-one has any reason to bomb us."

"You'd be surprised." Tracer replied. "Let's move on."

* * *

Zen looked at a blue door to his right. "What's in there?"

Tracer blinked. "Oh, that's… that's Utarz's room."

"Oh. Let's leave."

* * *

"This is the power room." Tracer pointed to a large plasma battery. "This thing powers the whole base."

"How come we had to go through about forty locks?" Zen asked.

"Repora got in here a few months ago. All the lights in the base exploded."

"How-?"

"We don't know. But we've decided that we can no longer take any chances with him."

* * *

"This is the garbage disposal bay." Tracer pointed to a dusty, smelly area with several garbage bags around. "Here, we dump all of our unwanted crap so it can be collected and thrown into space."

"What throws it into space?" Zen asked.

"Our Phantom."

"So the Engineers don't do it for you?"

"We don't have Engineers."

"You're kidding me!" Zen said incredulously. "Everyone has at least one Engineer!"

"Yeah, getting Engineers is a privilege. We aren't known for getting privileges."

"Wow…" Zen was amazed. "You guys really do suck."

"Yup."

* * *

"This is the armoury." Tracer pointed to a large room. "We keep our extra armour in here.

"Why do you need extra armour if you never get into battles?" Zen asked.

"Really? We just keep them in case the armour we currently have gets dirty or something."

* * *

"And this is your room." Trace pointed inside a spacious room with some weapon racks and a floating bed.

Zen blinked. "Wait, really?"

"Yup. All personnel get a whole bedroom to themselves. It's easy to organise, since we only have five soldiers here. Well," Tracer looked at Zen. "Six, now."

"Okay, so that's pretty cool…" Zen mused.

"And now for some basic safety instructions." Tracer said.

"I think I can figure out what to and not to do."

Ignoring him, Tracer said, "First rule: When Atar asks you to do a 'favour', immediately blow it off, as the favour will usually be very, if not extremely, dangerous. Rule two: If you damage or destroy a vehicle, I withhold the right to murder you in any way I see fit. Rule three: Avoid Miara when she's angry, as this means that she will set fire to the first thing she sees.

"Rule four: If you are going to beat up or generally annoy Utarz, make sure that you have a passable reason for why you're doing it. Rule five: If you hear Repora scream Utarz's name, then immediately head to the bomb shelter because he will start firing random fuel rods everywhere. Any questions?"

Zen stared at Tracer, in a complete loss of what to say. Finally, he managed, "Um… does that sort of stuff usually happen?"

"Every. Fucking. **Day.**" Tracer growled.

* * *

After Tracer had gone off to show Zen the base, everyone else had gone off to do their own thing.

Utarz, however, took a while to decide what to do.

First, he decided to go pester Repora. He had accidently made a joke that normally would've encouraged Repora to kill him. Instead, Repora just shrugged it off, put his arm around Utarz's shoulders and then went into great detail about his previous crimes, all the while talking in a pleasant and casual tone.

Utarz had thrown up for about five minutes afterwards.

Deciding to stay the hell away from Repora after that, Utarz went into the kitchen to drink, but found that Atar had gotten rid of all his alcohol. Again. So getting wasted wasn't an option.

After some thought, Utarz decided to pursue and issue that had been troubling him for a while. So he went to Miara.

It took him a while to find her and when he did, she gave him an unfriendly glare. This was nothing new. She had detested him ever since he had made it clear that he didn't care for honour or the glory of the Covenant.

He had pretended to share that dislike, but she was still his younger sister, so he still cared for her. He saw it as his duty to make sure that she made the right decisions in her life.

Hypocritical, yes. But he felt that he had to do it, no matter what.

"What do **you **want?" Miara asked coldly.

"I want to know what exactly you think of Tracer." Utarz replied.

One of those decisions he wanted to make sure she did right was who she spent her life with.

"Oh, for the sake of the Forerunners," Miara snapped. "We've been over this!"

"Yeah, and I'm not happy with the responses you've given me!" Utarz snapped back. "I mean, what the hell sort of answer is, 'none of your business?'"

"A truthful answer! What I do with my life is my responsibility, not yours!"

"Like it or not, I am your older brother so it's my j-"

Miara glared at him. "Your 'what'?"

Utarz choose his next words with care. "It's my right to know what your thoughts are."

"Bull."

"Hey, it's true!"

"Fine. You really want to know what I think of Tracer?"

"Yes."

"I think that he is a nice guy who I would sleep with just to piss you off."

Utarz growled. "Not if I have anything to say about that."

"You **don't.**"

"…Um… yeah, I don't… uh… that's actually a good point."

"Why do you care, anyway?" Miara asked. "It wouldn't affect your life."

Utarz thought quickly. He didn't want Miara to think that he cared for her. She detested him, so it wouldn't be good for his health.

Thankfully, it was easy for him to come up with an excuse.

"Yes, it would." Utarz replied. "I don't want Tracer as my brother-in-law. I don't need him nerding up my life. And I'm pretty sure that Tracer wouldn't want me as an in-law either."

He had her there. Miara loathed being Utarz's brother, so she could accurately guess what someone else would feel like if they were Utarz's in-law.

"I… well…"

"Exactly!" Utarz pressed his point. "Besides, what could he possibly do for you? He's a nerd! On top of that, he's a doctor! You'd be-"

"Medic." Said a voice from behind him.

"Whatever!" Utarz replied. "Doctor, medic, what's th-" Utarz froze when he realised who had spoken.

"Not a doctor," Tracer continued, glaring at Utarz. "A medic. There's a difference. A slight difference, but a difference nonetheless."

Utarz looked at him. "Hey dude, do you mind? I'm talking to Miara here."

"Yeah, and now I want to talk to her. So, could you leave, please?"

"You're not the boss of me!"

"I have a higher rank."

"That's bull. Your armour was taken off of a dead guy."

"Fine, then I'll just call Repora."

"Fine. I'll go." Utarz turned and left, muttering under his breath, "Asshole…"

Tracer watched him go, and then turned to Miara. "You sure you're related to him?"

Miara chuckled. "Yeah, we took a blood test."

"That's unfortunate."

"Yeah… Aren't you meant to be giving Zen a tour?"

"Just finished. He's probably unpacking in his room."

"Unpacking? He didn't bring any luggage."

"Oh. Right."

"So… what now?"

"Dunno… that's up to Atar."

An awkward silence fell between them.

"I'm going to tell Atar that I'm finished." Tracer said, walking off.

"Sure." Miara said, looking at him leave.

When he was out of sight, she sighed.

She truly liked him, but she wasn't sure if he was the male she wanted to spend her life with yet. True, he was smart and resourceful, but he also lacked physical strength and a good aim with firearms. Plus, she was pretty sure that Tracer didn't want to be related to Utarz in any way.

It was annoying to say the least. All these things she wanted to tell him and she couldn't.

Another really inconvenient fact was that there weren't any other males she could choose. Due to her placement in the 800 Squad, males who weren't wouldn't agree to marriage with her. So her only choices lay within the 800 Squad.

Utarz was her brother, so that wasn't an option and she was pretty sure that Atar was already married, so he was out of the question as well. So the only non-married males in the Squad were Tracer and Repora.

So basically, her only choice was Tracer.

The new guy opened up a new vista though… but she didn't know anything about him yet. Perhaps she could ask him some questions later.

* * *

Atar would've frowned at his monitor if he could've. According to Zen's profile, he had been part of a very successful military family. Nothing to suggest that he had the potential to be thrown into the reject pile.

In fact, his profile actually said that he had trained for years to get into the army. All the evidence pointed to Zen not belonging here.

Tracer entered the room. "Sir?"

Atar turned and looked at him. "Finished giving Zen the tour?"

"Yup. He's in his room now. Dunno what he's doing, though."

"Well, whatever he's doing he's gonna have to stop. I'm organising a training exercise."

Tracer blinked. "Huh? But why?"

"I have my reasons."

"…Okay sir. Do you want me to tell everyone else?"

"Negative." Atar turned to the intercom mic and turned it on.

"To all troops under the 800 Squad." Atar's voice echoed through the base. "I have decided to hold a simple training regimen on the training grounds today. I expect you all to be there within fifteen minutes. Thank you."

In his room, Zen looked up curiously. Didn't Tracer say that Atar didn't like the training sessions?

In the courtyard, Miara frowned at her flamethrower. She had been experiencing some technical difficulties with it lately and wasn't keen on letting anyone know.

In the kitchen, Utarz groaned. He hated training sessions. They were **boring **and always ended the same way.

At the door leading to the power room, Repora giggled happily. Finally, an excuse to kill Utarz with the new guy around!

In his office, Atar looked at Tracer and said, "You better get moving. The time limit includes you as well.


	3. Training Round

**The Halo Universe belongs to Microsoft Studios and 343 Industries. But these characters are my own creation and cannot be used without my permission. If you do use them without my permission, then Tracer will disable your internet and ban you from Xbox Live. Enjoy the show.**

* * *

**The Sangheili 800 Squad**

**Chapter 2: Training Round**

* * *

**February, 2550 (Human Calender)**

**1213 hours**

**SSMB 800**

* * *

The Sangheili 800 Squad's training grounds weren't actually above ground. Rather, they were in a cave for protection against the wind and ice.

It was split into three, smaller caverns which each held a different purpose. The smallest cavern held the firing range, where large targets were put up in the hopes of getting the soldiers to actually hit something. The longest cavern held the obstacle course, which Atar built himself. It was ridiculously complicated for such poor soldiers.

The largest cavern held what Repora, and the others once it had caught on, called 'the Map.' It was a complex of buildings that held military significance. Of course, they were all fake, but they were so realistic that one was easily fooled into thinking otherwise.

The largest building, right in the middle, served as a watchtower. Atar would stand in there during training, at the very top, so he could see what was going on at all times.

The base simulation was, however, way too big for six Sangheili. Rather, it was designed for battalions rather than teams.

"Alright men!" Atar snapped once everyone had gathered around. "Today, we will be doing a simple exercise: a game of capture the flag! You will be split into two teams. One will be defending the flag and the other will be trying to take the flag back to their base! I will decide what teams you will be split into and where your respective bases will be. Any questions?"

"Yeah," Zen said. "Why is this place called 'the Map'?"

"Honestly? We don't know." Atar replied. "Repora just started calling it that and it just caught on. Any more questions?"

"Why are we doing this?" Utarz asked.

"Shut up."

"Who'll be on what teams?" Tracer asked.

Atar thought about this. "Well Tracer, you and Zen will be the attacking team and Miara and Repora will be the defending team."

"Wait, Repora's going to be defending?!"

"Yay!" Repora said happily. "Although I prefer to be attacking in these sessions."

"Well, we are low on soldiers, Tracer." Atar said defensively.

"Why don't we just use Utarz, sir?" Zen asked.

"I've actually given up on training Utarz to be a soldier." Atar sighed. "So instead, he'll watch the session from the tower under my supervision."

"It's not as good as it sounds." Utarz muttered.

"Yeah, you're not on the ground where I can kill you." Repora sighed.

"Speaking of killing others, we don't have any training weapons." Atar added. "So the weapons we have will be the ones we use."

"What?!" Zen exclaimed. They didn't have training weapons?!

"Sir? Zen doesn't have a weapon yet." Miara pointed out.

Now that she mentioned it, Zen realised that everyone was holding a Covenant weapon. Atar had a Concussion Rifle, Utarz had a standard Plasma Rifle, Tracer had a Carbine, Repora had a Fuel Rod Gun and Miara had a human-made flamethrower. Zen was currently holding nothing.

"Oh yeah." Atar looked at Zen. "He needs a weapon. But we don't have much."

"What about that Needle Rifle?" Tracer suggested.

"Yeah!" Miara agreed. "I mean, it's functional and no-one ever uses it."

"Except that day when Repora tried to use long-range guns." Utarz added.

"That was the least damaging rampage I ever went on." Repora said.

"Very well then." Atar nodded and turned to Utarz. "Go get that Needle Rifle."

"Me? Why me?" Utarz asked.

"Because otherwise, you'll be doing jack shit! Now get a move on!"

Utarz grumbled and walked off. He was in no hurry.

About thirty boring minutes later, Utarz came back.

"What took you so long?" Atar snapped.

"I was conserving energy." Utarz replied. He gave the rifle to Zen. "Here's your stupid rifle."

Zen took it from him, glaring at Utarz as he walked back into place.

With that problem out of the way, Atar said, "Right! Now that we've solved that rather minor problem, let's decide what will happen. Attacking team, your base will be the science lab. Defending team, your base will be the grocery store. Move out!"

"Where's the science lab?" Zen asked.

"Follow me." Tracer said. Zen did.

When they reached the science lab, Tracer explained what was going to happen. "When you hear an alarm go off, that's our signal to start moving. Once that happens, we'll need to sneak around the back of the grocery store."

"Won't they be prepared for that?"

Tracer blinked and cursed. "Shit, they will. Alright then, we'll take the sewer system. They won't expect an attack from below."

"This place even has a sewer system?" Zen said in amazement. "Who built this place?"

"I did."

"You did?!"

"Yeah, during the time when it was just me, Miara and Atar. Once you get the power back on, the base takes care of itself."

Zen was lost for words. What was this guy doing in the 800 Squad?

An alarm blared. Tracer straightened up. "Let's go."

Zen nodded. They both went out of the door and to the nearest manhole.

* * *

"Utarz, where are Tracer and Zen right now?" Atar asked.

Utarz looked at a map of the Map and looked for two yellow, glowing dots near the science lab. He found them and said, "They're entering the sewers."

"What about Miara and Repora?"

"They're just standing there."

Atar brought up a Beam Rifle. The thing was actually damaged so that it couldn't shoot, so Atar just used it in place of binoculars. He focused on the grocery store and zoomed in. Miara and Repora seemed to be talking, although Miara's body language suggested that she didn't find the conversation to her liking.

Atar lowered the rifle. "So Tracer and Zen are trying to attack via the sewers."

"Hasn't Tracer tried that plan already?"

"That was when he was paired up with Repora. So it failed. This time, he has that Zen person…"

Utarz snorted. "What's so great about that Zen guy?"

"His records suggest that he's a competent soldier."

Utarz glared at Atar. He didn't know what it was, but Zen irked him for some reason. "Atar, maybe if-"

"General or sir!" Atar snapped.

"Whatever. Maybe if you weren't so old and senile, then you would know that he belongs here."

In response to this, Atar punched him in the face.

* * *

Tracer and Zen reached a fork in the sewers. There were two bends in the sewers, meaning that there were two ways to go.

Tracer looked at Zen. "A strategic option would be to split up. Two ways to go might give us an advantage."

"Agreed." Zen nodded.

They both turned and went the other way. Tracer was thinking of a battle plan. If he went undetected, he could just sneak around and grab the flag. If he was discovered, then he would have to knock out his discoverer and then continue to the flag.

He reached a ladder that reached to above ground. He climbed up and looked around. So far, nothing. This was good.

He climbed out of the sewers and brushed off some fake sewage. He ducked into a street and looked at his motion detector. No-one about. He looked at his map. The grocery store was about four cycles away in Direction X (About 80 metres away to the South). He could use the streets to avoid detection.

And that's what he did. He crept along the streets, all the while looking at his motion detector and map in an attempt to avoid confrontation with anyone. Especially Repora.

Suddenly, a little red dot showed up on his motion detector and he froze. That was definitely not Zen. He couldn't be here already.

Which meant that the dot was either Miara or Repora. Neither were ideal sparring companions.

Tracer gulped and held up his Carbine. He waited for the red dot to come close to where he was and then he spun around and said, "Freeze!"

It was Miara who was around the corner. She jumped and held up her flame thrower.

They stood there, staring at each other for about ten seconds. Each one was pointing their weapon at the other.

Then Tracer cracked, shouted, "NEVER MIND!" and ran off.

Miara lowered her flame thrower and sighed. This happened every single time…

* * *

Zen had barely crawled out of the sewers when he saw a red dot appear on his motion detector.

He immediately scrambled back in, wanting to avoid whoever it was who was coming near his position. He waited, staying perfectly still as footsteps walked over the manhole he was hiding under.

When the red dot passed by, Zen crawled out of the sewers and looked around, rifle at the ready. He looked at his map. He was close to the grocery store. He could just sneak by and grab the flag.

Zen crept along, eventually reaching the grocery store. The flag was just standing there, no-one guarding it at all. Sloppy.

Zen approached the flag and looked around, just to check. Then he grabbed the flag and took off back towards the sewer.

He almost ran into Repora, who was just standing there.

"Hello!" Repora said cheerfully. "I need that back."

Zen smashed the flag into Repora's head. Repora stumbled back and Zen dashed forward to the manhole. He quickly opened it up and jumped inside. Repora started to follow, so Zen quickly dropped the flag and got out his Needle Rifle. He aimed up and just as Repora's helmet showed, Zen fired at an angle to the wall.

Zen then dashed off. Since he fired at an angle, the needle would reflect off the wall and hit the wall. It was only one needle, so Repora's energy shield would survive the hit. The needle would only disorient him and give Zen time to get back to base.

He didn't notice Repora collapse with a hole in his helmet.

POOF

"Oh dear…" Heaven muttered.

"Well, that's a shame." Hell said sarcastically.

* * *

"What the hell?" Utarz muttered.

"What?" Atar asked.

"It's Zen." Utarz pointed to the map. "He's got the flag!"

"He's what?!"

"He's got the flag and he's heading back to his base!"

Atar rushed to the map to see for himself. Sure enough, the red dot that belonged to Zen and the blue dot that belonged to the flag were heading back to the science lab.

This had never happened before. During training sessions, the flag either got accidently destroyed, or everyone got lost. No-one had actually won in the training sessions.

It was a sad fact of their reality that this was effectively a breakthrough.

"Anything else?" Atar asked.

"Oh, he shot Repora in the head."

"Good."

* * *

Tracer wasn't lost yet, so that was a good thing.

He looked out onto the street. Miara was there, turning everywhere with her flamethrower. Right now, Tracer had climbed up on top of a building and was looking everywhere. Stuff like this usually happened during training sessions.

Quite frankly, Tracer was really annoyed that he lost his nerve again. This didn't used to happen when Utarz was in the training sessions. Tracer would just punch his face and walk on. In fact, everyone used to do that.

_Just shoot her in a non-lethal area. _Tracer told himself, turning around and aiming at her. _Like the leg. Legs can heal. Slowly, easy does it…_

Fifteen seconds of aiming later, he fired and missed her by several metres.

Miara stared at the point where the round hit the wall, then to where the shot came from. She then shouted, "That was an **awful** shot!"

"Hey, don't judge me!" Tracer shouted back. "I'm a reject!"

"I'm a reject as well, and even I can't shoot that bad!"

"I… well…" Tracer began.

The horn sounded, followed by Atar's voice. "The attacking team has won!"

Both Tracer and Miara blinked.

"Wait…" Tracer slowly, coming to terms with what Atar just said. "What?"

Both Miara and Tracer went to the science lab, where Zen was standing, waiting for them.

"What?" Zen asked in response to their stares.

"You actually managed to get the flag." Miara said in shock.

"…Yes…" Zen said uncertainly. "That was the goal."

"We know, but…" Tracer wasn't sure how to explain this to Zen. "That's never happened before."

"What do you mean?" Zen asked.

"Well… we usually lose our nerve, accidently break stuff, run out of time, etcetera*…"

Zen stared at him.

"We know." Miara said. "We're not that good."

Atar's voice sounded over the intercom again. "Tracer! Please help me and Utarz take Repora to the medical bay. He has a bullet wound in his head."

Zen double blinked. "Wait, what?!"

Tracer sped off. Miara looked at Zen suspiciously. "What did you do?"

"I… I shot him." Zen stuttered. "But I assumed his energy shielding would hold up!"

"We don't have energy shielding." Miara replied.

This statement took a few seconds for Zen to comprehend.

"You don't have energy shielding?!" He exploded. "You don't have the most basic piece of equipment that every Sangheili soldier has?!"

"You have a lot to learn about our squad." Miara commented.

* * *

**February, 2550 (Human Calender)**

**1224 hours**

**SSMB 800**

* * *

Tracer exited the medical bay, taking off the eyepieces he was wearing. Everyone minus Repora was standing there, waiting for the news.

"I've got bad news." Tracer said sadly. "He's going to live."

At this, everyone except Zen swore and complained loudly. Zen double blinked again.

"What?! But I shot him in the head without energy shielding!"

"Yup." Tracer said bitterly. "That's what the x-ray showed as well."

"Then how-?"

"Dunno. But he was talking to me during the whole operation, so he must be alive."

"Can I come out now?" Repora's voice floated in from the medical bay.

"Yeah, I don't see why not."

Repora strolled out of the room and said cheerfully, "Hello! You're a good shot!" He said to Zen.

"I don't believe this." Zen said disbelievingly. "You just cheated the demons of hell."

"Yup!" Repora chuckled. "Suckers. They won't be getting me yet! Not in this chapter!"

"Chapter?"

Utarz explained. "Repora is convinced that he can see the 'real world' through the…" He looked at Repora. "What was it, fifth wall?"

"Fourth wall, you dumbarse." Repora replied, annoyed.

"That is irrelevant." Atar butted in. "What I find fascinating is how well Zen performed in that test."

"That wasn't really anything special, sir." Zen said, trying to be modest. "A million other troops could do that."

"Exactly." Atar looked at Zen. "Competent soldiers can do what you just did. Not us."

"Well…" Zen looked at them all. "You can't seriously be telling me that you guys can't do that."

"We're in the reject pile for a reason." Tracer said. "We suck. More than any other troop in the Covenant."

"More than the Grunts." Miara added.

Utarz nodded. "Most of us can't aim for shit."

"And our strategies are poor at best." Atar added.

"And most of our equipment is broken." Repora chimed in.

"Courtesy of **you, **by the way." Tracer said irritably.

If Zen could've frowned, he would've. These guys seemed like a negative bunch of Sangheili.

"Well, then… if you guys suck so much, then why am I here?" Zen asked.

"That's my point." Atar said. "Why are you here?"

"Maybe command made a mistake somehow." Miara said.

"No." Atar seemed to be realising something. "If you failed all three tests, yet pulled off what any normal soldier can do, then I think it's much more likely that your test was rigged."

A feeling of elation and annoyance filled Zen. "That's what I've been telling everyone this entire time!"

"Who'd do that?" Utarz asked.

"Dunno." Atar said. "But I've recorded the training session, so I'll show it to command to show them their mistake."

"And then what?" Miara asked. "Will he get sent to another squad?"

"But he can't!" Repora protested. "He's part of the main cast now! He can't leave at the beginning!"

Everyone ignored him.

"Zen, follow me." Atar ordered. "We're going to talk to command."

Zen nodded and followed Atar out of the room. Hopefully now, he'd get the chance to go to a regular squad and fight the humans.

That left Tracer, Utarz, Miara and Repora in the room.

Utarz looked at Tracer. He decided that if he was going to say something to him, then he would do it now.

"Hey, could I talk to Tracer alone for a minute?" He asked the room at large.

"Huh?" Tracer asked.

"Okay!" Repora walked out of the room. "I have bombs to make, anyway."

Miara was a bit more stubborn. "Why?" She asked.

"Just because." Utarz shot back. "Why don't you go talk to mom and dad?"

Miara grumbled, but went off to do just that. She hadn't spoken to her parents lately and she reckoned she owed them a call.

Now, it was just Tracer and Utarz in the room. Utarz glared at Tracer, who looked back uncertainly.

"Can I help you?" Tracer asked.

"Yeah, you can." Utarz said simply. "I'm only going to say this once: stay away from my sister."

Tracer double blinked. "What?" He shook his head. "Can you say that again? I don't think I heard that correctly."

"Oh, you heard me correctly." Utarz said. "Stay the fuck away from my sister!"

"Right." Tracer glared back. "Why?"

"Simple. I don't want anything growing up between you and Miara. She's not gonna marry a doctor."

Annoyed now, Tracer snapped, "First of all, I'm a **field medic. **Secondly, what's it to you?"

"None of your business!"

"Neither is this." Tracer glared at Utarz. "Miara is free to make her own decisions."

"Yeah? Well how about you make a decision and make sure that nothing stirs up!"

"You have had two years to discuss this." Tracer said. "Why bring it up now?"

"Just… because!"

"Right." Tracer folded his arms. "Why would I heed your request?"

"Because if you don't…" Utarz raised his Plasma Rifle threateningly.

Tracer rolled his eyes. "Utarz, I've seen you shoot before. You couldn't hit a Phantom if it was right in front of you."

"I don't have to shoot you just to give a message." Utarz hissed. "This thing doubles as a pretty hard club."

Tracer tapped the Plasma Rifle.

It fell to pieces.

"It would double as a club," Tracer pointed out. "If you took the time to learn maintenance."

Utarz picked up the pieces in his arms and glared at Tracer. "Seriously dude… I'm warning you… stay away from Miara."

And then he stormed off.

Tracer sighed and went back into the medical bay to pack everything away. "Stay away from Miara." He repeated. "If he thinks of himself as the big man, then he must not have gotten past the written test.

* * *

"Atar, my man!" The Kig-Yar said dazedly. "What's up?"

"I see that they still haven't replaced you." Atar grumbled. "Can I speak to someone worth speaking to?"

The Kig-Yar looked at his screen. "Well, there's a Brute free on this other channel. Wanna chat with him?"

"No." Atar said bluntly. "No I do not."

"So what's up, man?"

"I believe that command has made a mistake in sending Zen here." Atar said, pointing to Zen.

Zen was usually okay with most Kig-Yar, but there was something about this one that immediately lowered his respect for him.

It was probably the stupid way of talking. It would set anyone on edge.

"A mistake?" The Kig-Yar said. "Naw, command doesn't make no mistakes."

"Trust me, they've made one." Atar said. "A big one."

"Can you, like, elaborato?"

"That's not a word." Zen pointed out.

"Zen is a competent soldier." Atar insisted. "He succeeded in our training program. No-one in our squad has ever done that before."

"He failed all three tests, man." The Kig-Yar said lazily. "He belongs in your squad."

"I believe the tests were tampered with." Atar said. "I don't know by who or for what purpose, but I believe that they were set up to make sure that Zen was put into the 800 Squad."

"Yes!" Zen pitched in. "That's what I've been saying all along! Someone wanted me in this squad!"

"Command is gonna need a little proof, ya know." The Kig-Yar said.

"And I've got some." Atar said, sending the video file of the training match. "I think it'll be all the proof you'll need."

The Kig-Yar looked at the part of the screen where the file showed up. "Do you guys mind if I put you on hold for a mo?"

"Not at all." Atar lied.

"Groovy." The screen went temporarily blank.

"What an idiot." Zen commented.

"You don't know half of it." Atar said. "I believe that he takes too many drugs. I feel myself getting high just by looking at him."

They waited patiently for a while. Then they waited impatiently for a while. The video wasn't long, surely he would've looked at it by now.

Finally, the Kig-Yar's face showed up again.

"Well?" Atar grunted.

"No-can-do." The Kig-Yar said. "He has to stay there."

Atar blinked. "What?"

Zen double blinked, then exploded. "WHAT?!"

"But, you saw the footage!" Atar said.

"Yeah, but he still has to stay." The Kig-Yar repeated. "The Prophets ordered it. And you can't make a Prophet mad, y'know?"

"But I don't belong here!" Zen raged. "I'm a COMPETENT SOLDIER!"

"Sorry, man." The Kig-Yar sounded slightly sympathetic. "Orders are such a bummer, right?"

The screen turned off.

Zen shook with fury for a moment at the injustice, then stormed off with a cry of anger.

Atar just stood there, frowning. "Why would the Prophets want him here?" He wondered.

* * *

In an old spaceship, a red Sangheili was monitoring the call. When it ended, he straightened up and turned to two shadows behind him, one large and one small.

"They've figured it out sooner than I predicted." He said to the shadows. "While this shouldn't cause any major implications to the plan, we should still quicken our operations, just in case."

"But we don't even know where this guy is!" The smaller shadow said. It was high-pitched and squeaky. "We don't have access to the Covenant database, specifically the maps. How are we supposed to find one guy on a planet that we don't even know the location of?"

"I have a few ideas." The Sangheili replied. "It'd obviously be a planet of little to no value far away from the main battle front. And the Covenant only has three planets like that, so that narrows down our search."

The larger shadow spoke with a deep, slow voice. "And once we do find Zen, how do we make him listen to us? He is deep, religious Sangheili, just like the rest."

"I don't know." The Sangheili admitted. "But we have to make him listen. Zen is one of the most open-minded Sangheili I've ever known. We need people like him. We need to make him realise the truth… even if it means forcing him to listen."

* * *

**Author's notes**

**WELP, THERES A MYSTERY**

***Or whatever the Sangheili equivalent of etcetera is.**


	4. That Snow is a Spy!

**The Halo Universe belongs to Microsoft Studios and 343 Industries. But these characters are my own creation and cannot be used without my permission. If you do use them without my permission, then Utarz will steal all the money from your bank account. Enjoy the show.**

* * *

**The Sangheili 800 Squad**

**Chapter 3: That Snow is a Spy!**

* * *

For the first couple of days after command's refusal to get him out, Zen had taken to sitting in his room, fuming at the injustice. Atar had tried again and again to have Zen relocated to a better squad, but was having no luck.

Mostly because he still had the same radio operator.

After a while though, Zen calmed down and decided that if he was going to be stuck here, then he might as well make himself useful. No sense in sulking like a child.

This was also the same day that Atar gave up trying to get Zen out. When the Kig-Yar didn't realise that being called a 'stubborn, dishonourable half-wit' was an insult, Atar decided that the Kig-Yar wasn't worth the time.

The first thing Zen tried to do was help rebuild the base. On that day, Miara had gone up to Zen and asked him if he had a girlfriend. He had been so taken aback by this question that he said 'yes' before realising that he actually didn't.

Miara didn't seem disappointed though. If anything she seemed satisfied, as though she had made a choice of some sort.

Zen quickly learnt that progress on the base was slow. The base was gigantic and was built for more than six people. Rebuilding a section of a wall more than six metres long didn't count as one twelfth of the reconstruction process. But Tracer was determined to bring the base back to its former glory.

Zen noticed that everyone carried their weapons wherever they went. When he asked why, Tracer explained that Atar was slightly paranoid and insisted on it.

Zen also learnt that only he, Tracer, Miara and Atar were actually doing anything. Utarz simply couldn't be bothered and Repora was doing 'something secret' in his room. What he was doing, Zen didn't really want to know.

Day three was relatively peaceful, despite the odd argument that would occasionally flare up between Tracer and Utarz, or Miara and Utarz, or, more commonly, Zen and Utarz. Zen had never met someone who was so lazy and dishonourable.

Everyone else seemed to be on edge though. Everyone kept away from Repora's room (which was sort of expected) and looking up at the sky as though they were worried it was going to fall on them. Utarz in particular kept reacting to loud noises and was riding on his Ghost (which Tracer had grudgingly repaired) the whole day.

Zen didn't really know what they were afraid of. The humans had no reason to attack them and they were isolated from anything else. No one would hurt them.

The next day, though, he learnt better.

* * *

**February, 2550 (Human Calender)**

**0925 Hours**

**SSMB 800**

* * *

Zen and Tracer were working on a section of a wall when they heard a furious scream.

"**UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRZZZZZZZZZZ!"**

Zen looked up at the source of the voice. "Was that Repora?"

"…Yeah…" Tracer stood up, abandoning his work. "We should go now."

"Why?"

"Just trust me."

"…This wouldn't be one of those rampages you talked about, would it?" Zen asked nervously.

As if to answer his question, a fuel rod hit the ground behind him.

The force blew him backwards onto his face. He scrambled back up and saw half a dozen more rods falling from the sky.

"RUN!" Tracer yelled, dashing off. Zen quickly followed. He would happily kill a human or a Sangheili against even or overpowering odds, but Repora was more frightening than any monster.

Eventually, they reached the bomb shelter and ran in. Tracer slammed the door shut behind him. To Zen's surprise, everyone else minus Utarz and Repora was already there.

"Nearly didn't get here in time." Atar admonished.

"We were further away." Tracer replied.

"Well try and be a bit closer next time." Miara snapped. She seemed to be the type of scared when you were worried about something close to you.

Zen had a hunch of why this was, but that wasn't really important right now.

"What exactly is wrong with Repora?" He asked.

Tracer shrugged. "Dunno. He definitely lost his mind somewhere in the past. Probably a traumatic event or something."

"And there are his voices as well." Miara added.

Zen blinked. "What voices?"

"In his head." Atar explained. "He calls them 'Heaven' and 'Hell'."

"Great." Zen muttered. "So he hears voices as well."

"That doesn't prove anything." Tracer said. "Hearing voices in your head is actually perfectly normal. It's when you start talking back to them that you should be worried."

"He does talk back to them." Atar pointed out.

"I know, but I just had to point that out. It's a common mistake."

"Where's Utarz?" Zen asked. He wasn't concerned, just curious.

"Out there getting shot at." Miara said without a trace of remorse.

"…Why is Repora shooting at him?"

"We've asked both of them." Tracer said. "Neither of them want to talk about it."

"You know, Tracer," Atar grumbled. "I thought we agreed that you would make him stop this."

"You told me to stop him for Zen's arrival, sir." Tracer corrected. "And I did stop him for a while. We haven't had any rampages for the past three days."

Atar grumbled a bit more, but Zen was more concerned about all the hard work they did the last few days. With an aim like Repora's, then almost everything would be demolished.

Utarz knew the drill. Get on the Ghost, drive around randomly, stray away from Tracer's Wraith and the power room and he was good. It didn't really matter much where he drove, because Repora's aim was so terrible that only the stuff around Utarz got blown apart.

Repora also knew the drill. Wait for Utarz to insult him, listen to Hell to get angry, grab his fuel rod gun and blow stuff up. He didn't care where he shot, just as long as Utarz got hurt. The fact that Utarz wasn't hurt only added to his fury.

Trouble was, the angrier he got, the worse his aim became. This meant that after a while, the only metal object that wasn't destroyed was Utarz's Ghost.

In fact, an interesting note about the 800 Squad was that Utarz's Ghost was almost completely unscathed. No corrosion or scratches or even dust was on it. It was the only thing that Utarz kept clean.

"COME BACK HERE AND DIE, UTARZ!" Repora roared, firing rod after rod after rod.

Utarz gave him something that he learnt from some newspaper articles about human prisoners: the bird. "Go fuck yourself!" He shouted back.

Enraged, Repora reloaded his gun, went inside the base and grabbed the heavy plasma cannon.

POOF

"Now, now." Heaven said nervously. "Revenge won't get you anywhere. It'll just cause more misery."

"Bullshit!" Hell scorned. "If we get rid of Utarz, then we'll be at peace!"

Repora turned to his right shoulder. "Hell's right, Heaven!" He then jogged out the door, screaming, "REVENGE!"

It took about two hours, but eventually, Repora just got bored of the whole thing and went back to his room after taking a couple more pot-shots at Utarz. Satisfied, Utarz went back to his room and promptly got drunk. After all, Repora only went on one rampage per day.

The Sangheili in the bomb shelter had been waiting for the whole thing to blow over by talking and playing some card games (yes, Sangheili have card games. **Everyone **does). The card games seemed to always end with Tracer winning, ("No-one is that lucky!" Zen complained) and the talk was mostly of home and their jobs.

What really struck Zen was how much the other three were convinced of their own incompetence. They all seemed to think along the lines that they were in the 800 Squad because they were stupid, weak and uncoordinated.

That was a bit exaggerated, but that seemed to be what they thought. Zen couldn't believe that. There had to be something they could do right. Like Tracer. He built the whole Map that was almost the size of a small village using only spare parts. No normal Sangheili could do that.

He said nothing, though. He wasn't sure why.

When the explosions ceased, everyone nervously debated who should be the one to stick their head out. Zen eventually volunteered and poked out his head in the hope that it wouldn't get blown to pieces.

Thankfully, nothing happened.

To everyone's annoyance, though, their work had been undone. Burn marks, blown apart metal and snapped wires were everywhere. Zen and Tracer's wall had been completely destroyed. Metal was everywhere, so they set about patching it up.

"No wonder the base is a shambles." Zen muttered. "If this happens every day, then it'd be a miracle if we managed to rebuild a barrel."

"That's why we have four people working on this place." Tracer explained. "Otherwise, we wouldn't get anything done."

"Why do we even have Repora?" Zen asked. "If he's this dangerous, then why is he even alive?"

"We don't know. Seriously, we've tried to get him executed many times, but we're not allowed to."

"How come?"

"Apparently, execution is a privilege." Tracer muttered.

* * *

What you have to understand about the SMBB 800 was that it was in the middle of a small box canyon. It was a circle with a large complex in the middle, a path leading to the caves with the training equipment and a path leading to the landing pad.

It was also very close to the ocean, with the landing pad being directly above the ocean. One could easily fall off if they weren't careful, as there were no railings.

Otherwise, the 800 Squad was completely cut off from the rest of the planet. Even worse, it was the middle of this planet's winter, so there was ice everywhere. Sometimes, there was a blizzard and people couldn't see anything in front of them.

Thankfully, there was no blizzard, but it was still hard to see the small white figure on top of one of the cliffs.

The figure was an Unggoy (Unggoy were also known as Grunts) in almost silver armour. He was holding a Beam Rifle and was currently looking through the scope. The rifle itself had no battery, as the Unggoy had no intention of using it. He was just using it because he had no binoculars.

He was looking at two of the Sangheili, the one in the purple Spec Ops armour and the one in the green Minor armour. They seemed to be trying to fix the wall that the Sangheili in the white Ranger armour had destroyed earlier.

He zoomed in on the green Minor. It was possible that the green one was Zen, but he couldn't be sure. To him, all Sangheili looked the same.

In order to find out, he would have to go down and listen to them talk.

He put down his Beam Rifle and pulled out what looked like hooks. He grabbed hold of them and stabbed one into the side of the cliff. He climbed down with the hooks, looking down to see how close the ground was. He was relying on his armour's white coat to protect him from being spotted.

It worked. He reached the bottom without anyone noticing. Once he hit solid ground, he activated a cloaking device so that no-one would be able to see him. Then he crept slowly towards the two Sangheili.

* * *

"So Repora is the reason why we always have to carry our weapons." Zen stated.

"No." Tracer replied. "Atar's just a bit… paranoid."

"About what?"

"Dunno. I guess ever since he got brain damage, he's been on edge."

"He has brain damage?" Zen asked.

"Yeah. I think he fell off of a cliff. That was when he stopped being competent." Tracer added.

"…Huh." Zen focused back on his work. "That explains how he became a general."

"Yeah."

"Hey, about Repora's rampages…"

"Don't worry. He only goes on one per day."

"Great." Zen muttered. "How are we meant to rebuild this place when Repora blows everything up every day?"

"Well, it'd sure be a lot quicker if Utarz went somewhere isolated whenever Repora got angry, as we've suggested." Tracer grumbled. "But he never listens to us. Ever."

"I've heard it, but I still don't believe it." Zen said. "How can Utarz and Miara be related?"

Tracer shrugged. "I dunno. You can ask Miara, but she gets a little touchy about that subject."

Zen decided to do just that, against Tracer's judgement.

As Zen went to go find Miara, he found that it was hard to find someone in a base this large. After a while, he found Atar and decided to ask him for directions.

"Miara?" Atar thought about it. "Well… last I checked, she was trying to rebuild the door that leads to the watchtower… she might still be there, if she hasn't finished."

"Thanks, sir." Zen said.

"Don't mention it." Atar replied, returning to his work on a wall.

Zen made his way to the watchtower via the memory of Tracer showing it to him. When he got there, though, Miara wasn't there, so he made his way back out.

When he was outside, he heard some snow crunching. He looked around, but didn't see anyone.

_Odd… _He thought. He looked around a bit more and then noticed something even odder.

A set of footprints in the snow. Footprints that didn't look like Sangheili footprints. They were much too small and circular.

Uncertainly, Zen walked towards the footprints and was about to touch them when…

"Hi, Zen!"

Zen turned around. Miara was walking towards him carrying a toolbox.

Zen straightened up. "Miara."

"What're you doing?" She asked.

"Looking for you." Zen replied, remembering why he was here. "I wanted to ask you a question."

"Okay." She set the toolbox down. "What is it?"

"It's about Utarz." Zen added.

Immediately, Miara stiffened and seemed a bit angry. "What about him?"

"I just don't see how you two can be related." Zen said. "Your personalities differ so much."

Miara sighed. "Well, siblings are hardly ever alike, aren't they?"

"I know, but you and Utarz… you have nothing in common."

Miara looked around. "Actually, we do. We're both pretty stubborn at times."

"…Huh." Zen said.

"Yeah. I remember once when we were kids… Utarz refused to go to a school that my parents wanted him to go to." She seemed amused by the memory. "He wanted to stay with his friends."

"Why would he refuse to go to school."

"It was a military school."

"Oh. Was he that bad?"

"Not as bad as he is now, but yeah." She chuckled. "He used to pull a lot of pranks. But they were mostly harmless. He even took good care of me when I was only a few years old."

A small disturbance sounded to the right. They turned and saw a drunken Utarz 'talking' to Atar.

"While I understand that you are intoxicated," Atar growled in a manner that indicated little to no patience left. "If you don't shut up now, I will break your skull."

Utarz laughed in a deranged way. "You coul… couldn't hit a shi… shisno with a baby…"

"THAT'S IT!" Atar swung around and punched Utarz in the face, knocking him down into the snow. Atar then stormed off.

"And now?" Zen commented.

"And now." Miara agreed. "Honestly, how he got accepted into the military is a wonder."

"Well, that's all I had to ask." Zen said.

"Yeah." Miara picked up the toolbox. "I need to fix that door. Atar insisted."

"See you later, then." Zen said.

"See you." Miara walked inside.

Zen turned around, deciding to investigate the footprints. To his surprise, though, there was now a different set of footprints. The same shape and size, but they lead in a different direction. Towards the cliffs.

Zen followed the tracks, holding up his Needle Rifle. The footsteps lead to the base of the cliff and then stopped. As if the owner of the prints had climbed up the cliff.

In fact…

On closer inspection, Zen found slits in the side of the cliff, the size of small dagger blades. And they lead right up the cliff.

Zen looked up and would've frowned. No-one had any reason to spy on them. They were the 800 Squad after all.

So what was this? Why were there small footprints and dagger-size slits? And who did they belong to?

Getting no answers from the cliff-face, Zen walked back to the base and towards the wall he and Tracer were working on.

When Zen told Tracer of his findings, Tracer was silent for a moment. Then he said, "That makes no sense. Who would go to the trouble of buying Active Camouflage and climbing gear just to spy on us?"

"Who knows?" Zen replied. "Should we tell Atar?"

"No." Tracer sighed. "If we told Atar, then he would become more paranoid than usual. Might tell us to look for footprints. It's much better if we just look for intruders every now and then."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. And tell Miara as well. We might need some anti-cloaking equipment."

"Anti-cloaking?"

"Fire." Tracer said simply. "Lots and lots of fire."

* * *

The Unggoy finished hauling himself up the cliff and looked around for his Beam Rifle. He saw it and went to get it. Once he did, he made his way across the ice.

Eventually, he reached a point where the snow wasn't as thick as everywhere else. He threw down the rifle (he wouldn't need it anymore) and touched the air around the patch gently.

Almost instantly, a Banshee pretty much popped into existence.

The Unggoy made his way around the back of the Banshee and opened it up. Climbing inside, he pressed a few buttons and the vehicle flared into life.

As he flew the Banshee off of the ice and towards the sky, the Unggoy thought about what he had learned. As derived from the female Sangheili, the green one was Zen. That was good. He had found that out.

The bad news was that he was now suspicious, the Unggoy was sure of it. He had been silently terrified when the Sangheili had almost discovered him. He had been sure that the mission would've failed, right there and then.

Thankfully, it didn't. The Unggoy had slowly fled the moment the female had said Zen's name. He only hoped that the red one wouldn't know of what Zen had seen.

He kept piloting the Banshee towards the atmosphere, then above it and then he was in space. The Unggoy hoped that his methane supply wouldn't run out. The tank was second-hand after all.

After a while though, he reached a small, floating space-ship. It was custom made and the Unggoy had had a hand in building it. He was very proud of it at times.

Now, though, wasn't the time for admiration.

The Banshee flew into a large hatch for vehicles. With the trip over, the Unggoy got out and walked to the brig. There, the red Sangheili was there, reading something. When he saw the Unggoy, he put the touchpad down and looked at him.

"Buzzsaw." He said to the Unggoy. "How did the mission go? Is he there?"

"Yeah." Buzzsaw replied. "They're there all right. Almost got discovered."

"But you didn't?"

"Nope. Never saw me."

"Good." The red Sangheili replied. "Tank is just getting back from his search. I'll call him back now."

"So…" Buzzsaw said. "Do you have a plan of some sort?"

"Sort of." The Sangheili replied. "We'll send an ambassador first, someone to get Zen isolated… and then, we'll try to convince him."

"What if they attack our ambassador?"

"They?"

"The rest of his squad."

"They do not matter." The Sangheili replied. "If they leave us alone, then we will leave them alone. If they attack us, though… then we will attack back."

A screen flared up. On it was a Mgalekgolo, or better known as a Hunter. Its armour was coloured black and it was surrounded by desert.

"Tank has not found 800 Squad on desert planet." It said to the Sangheili.

"That's okay, Tank." He replied. "Buzzsaw had found them instead."

Tank nodded. "So Tank will come back, then."

"Yes." Zen nodded. "You'll be our ambassador."

* * *

**Author's notes**

**So here's a question for you lot: If I made a Tumblr blog where you could ask the 800 Squad questions, would you actually go there?**

**You can answer in the reviews or in the poll I've made. I would like to make the blog anyway, but I don't want to be wasting time.**

**Thanks for watching.**

**Potato.**


	5. Discovery One

**The Halo Universe belongs to Microsoft Studios and 343 Industries. But these characters are my own creation and cannot be used without my permission. If you do use them without my permission, then Miara will set fire to your car, home, family, friends, school, books, Xbox and TV. Enjoy the show.**

* * *

**The Sangheili 800 Squad**

**Chapter 4: Discovery One**

* * *

**February, 2550 (Human Calender)**

**0723 Hours**

**SSMB 800**

* * *

Zen had gotten used to some pretty weird stuff in the five days that he had been in the 800 Squad, but this pretty much topped it.

He was talking to Tracer that day, who was actually looking through some reports on humans while they were repairing a door. Zen had previously thought that humans weren't worth thinking about, but then Tracer mentioned something that completely bamboozled him.

"They have animations for **entertainment?!**" Zen exclaimed.

Tracer nodded. "Yup. The one to five minute ones are called 'Youtube videos'. The ten to thirty minute ones are called 'cartoons' and the one to two hour ones are called 'movies'."

Zen processed this. The only animations he ever watched as a child were ones describing how to use a sword. The only entertainment he ever got as a child was wrestling with his brother.

"Seriously?" He asked.

"Yup." Tracer nodded.

"Humans are weird." Zen said, astonished.

"No." Tracer replied. "Just different. You see, they're not a warrior race, like we are. They're more relaxed than we are and don't place as much stock on the military."

"How do you know all this?"

"I've got a friend who works for interrogations." Tracer replied. "Most of the humans we take in alive don't really know anything worth something, but it makes for interesting information."

Zen looked at him curiously. "Why do you want to know anything about them?"

"Because they're an entirely new species!" Tracer said excitedly. "True, we are trying to kill them all, but still! A new species!"

"A species that the Prophets want us to kill."

"It's fascinating, really. Their history, their lifestyles…" Tracer thought about something. "Not their technology though. It sucks."

"Yeah." Zen agreed. "Seriously, physical projectiles… we stopped using those thousands of cycles ago."

"But apart from that… It's seriously fascinating."

"Maybe…" Zen looked at him. "But still, they're a threat to the Great Journey, remember? We can't admire them too much."

"I wouldn't call it admiration, I would call it… curiosity."

"Okay…" Zen said. A thought struck him. "What do you think is actually at the end of the Great Journey?"

Tracer hesitated. Then he said, "Well… we would transcend into divinity, right?"

"Right."

"And divinity means holiness, right?"

"Right."

"So, we would become gods, wouldn't we?"

"I guess." Zen looked at the sky wistfully. "I hope we find at least one of the rings soon."

"Yeah."

Zen looked down and blinked. "Damn, I'm out of sheet metal. Can you-?"

"Sure." Tracer stood up and left towards the storage room.

Once Tracer was out of earshot, he took a glance at his motion detector. When nothing showed up, he muttered under his breath, "Great Journey. What nonsense…"

"Goes to show we have something in common, huh Tracer?"

Tracer turned and saw Utarz leaning against the wall drinking a bottle of Sangheili alcohol.

"I don't want to talk to you, Utarz." Tracer replied. "Leave me be."

"You came here." Utarz replied, taking a swig. "I didn't come to you."

Tracer ignored him. Utarz shrugged and walked off.

He hadn't drunk that much, but Utarz was already feeling slightly sluggish. He took this as a sign to stop for now. He wanted a clear head for when Repora decided to start blowing things up.

As he walked back to his room, he passed Miara, who looked up and saw the bottle in his hand.

"Utarz," She said exasperatedly. "It's seven in the morning."

"Yeah? Well Atar made us get up at three." Utarz replied. "So that's four hours without drink, so I'm off the hook."

Miara remembered something. She stood up and glared at Utarz. "By the way, I need to ask you something."

"What?"

"What did you say to Tracer?"

"Dunno what you're talking about."

"Oh, please." Miara replied. "You told us all to leave the room except you and Tracer. What did you say?"

Utarz grumbled. "Well, if you really want to know, I told Tracer to stay away from you. Happy?"

Miara growled. "I remember telling you that this wasn't any of your business."

Utarz shrugged. "I beg to differ."

"No!" Miara said angrily. "You don't get to differ! You have to stay out of my life, you hear me?!"

"I'm sorry," Utarz snapped. "But I was under the impression that I was your **older **brother. You can't tell me what to do!"

"Oh, forget it!" Miara turned back to her work. "You're impossible to reason with."

"Yeah? Well that makes two of us!" With that, Utarz stormed off.

Miara tried to continue on her wall for about ten minutes, but found that she couldn't concentrate anymore. Giving up, she walked off to her room.

Once there, she put her flamethrower onto the bed. Then she got out a bunch of tools and dismantled the thing before looking at each and every piece to see what wasn't working.

It wasn't that she was out of gas, she had plenty of that. It was because something was either blocking the gas's path or stopping the gas from coming out of the canister completely.

Miara looked at the pieces. The gas canister looked fine. There was no visible blockage in the expelling pipe. She looked at it a bit more carefully but still couldn't see what was wrong.

Maybe there was something wrong with the trigger?

"Yeah," Repora said. "I don't think the trigger's working."

Miara grabbed a knife and was about to lop off Repora's head before she realised who had just talked.

Then she put down the knife, growling in annoyance and frustration. "Don't do that!"

Repora shrugged. "Just offering advice."

"GET OUT!"

"Alright, alright." Repora walked out the door.

Once he was outside, Repora thought about what he should do next.

He decided to call upon Heaven and Hell.

POOF

"How may we help you, Repora?" Heaven asked nicely.

"Yes, how may we serve you?" Hell chuckled deviously.

"Yeah, what should I do now?" Repora asked.

Heaven and Hell considered this for a moment.

"How about you work in your workshop?" Heaven asked. "You've been meaning to finish that C-12."

"True… true…" Repora said.

"Ha!" Hell laughed. "That's no fun at all! Why don't we just kill Utarz?"

"I dunno…" Repora said. "It's pretty early. We should probably wait."

"Where's the fun in that?" Hell asked.

"Good point…" Repora considered.

"Now, now," Heaven said nervously. "We don't have to kill him yet. That C-12 could kill him much quicker."

"You're right!" Repora said. "To the workshop!"

Hell grumbled in defeat.

Repora ran to his workshop like a jogger would run to the corner store. Once there, he opened the door, walked inside, closed the door and got out all of his tools. Then he got out a package that had a homemade detonator on the front.

Something that Repora prided himself on was his homemade explosives. They weren't excellent (he was in the 800 Squad after all) but they were pretty good.

Right now, he was working on something that was about three times more powerful than C-4, hence the name C-12. But he needed more gunpowder and a working detonator. Which he didn't have in the base.

So he improvised.

"One flint and steel," He said, pulling out a pixelated object. "Check! One cup of flammable substance," He pulled out some oil. "Check! One radio," He pulled out Atar's private radio. "Check! And one crafting bench," He pulled out an entire table out of nowhere. "Check! Now to-"

BAM

"Repora!" Atar snapped. "Is that my private radio?!"

"Maybe…" Repora hid the radio behind his back. "Maybe not…"

"I require it." Atar said coldly. "Give it back."

"I only need it for a few minutes." Repora pleaded. "Then, once I give it back, it may or may not be in one piece."

"NOW."

"Alright, fine…" Repora grumbled, tossing the radio to Atar. "I'll find something else to use."

Atar grabbed the radio and walked out.

"Stealing my own radio…" Atar muttered. "Is nothing sacred anymore? Honestly, sometimes I feel as if I have no control over my own squad…"

Atar marched back to his radio and eventually found Utarz riding his Ghost. He turned and looked at Atar.

"Hey, Atar." Utarz said. "What're you doing?"

"General," Atar growled. "Or sir. And what I'm doing is none of your business."

Utarz threw his arms up in the air dramatically. "You too? Why is nothing my business anymore?!"

"Well, it would probably have something to do with no-one liking you." Atar replied. "Now, if you would excuse me, I have some important business to attend to."

"Yeah, right." Utarz scoffed. "Only important people have important things to do."

Atar turned around, pulled out his Concussion Rifle and shot at Utarz. Utarz simply pulled the Ghost back and avoided the shot.

Zooming off, Utarz shouted, "You've got crappy aim, sucker!"

Growling, Atar continued to his office.

Some General he was. Ordinary Generals command armies, not small teams composed of incompetent half-wits. He hadn't been in a battle situation for almost two years now. He missed the sound of the cannons firing at the humans. The only cannon that got fired around here was Repora's Fuel Rod gun.

When he reached his office, Atar put the radio on his desk and tuned it to his preferred radio station.

_There we go. _Atar thought as he found the war music station.

Satisfied, Atar leaned back in his chair and listened to songs about great battles and perfect assassinations. It was his favourite type of music, a type of music that no-one else in the base seemed to like.

_Kids these days don't appreciate the classics. _Atar thought.

* * *

While the 800 Squad was enjoying a relatively ordinary day for them, a Phantom had landed on the ice fields, far from the SSMB.

Inside, the small team of three was there: the Sangheili, Buzzsaw and Tank.

The Sangheili opened the doors and turned to Tank. "Remember, avoid harming anyone if possible. We want to make a good impression."

Tank nodded.

Buzzsaw snorted. "What good will that do when they figure out who we are?"

"It might make them think twice." The Sangheili suggested.

"But they're just as religious as the rest of the Covenant!" Buzzsaw complained. "They might just decide to shoot us when they get the chance!"

"Or, they might listen to us because we sound convinced!" The Sangheili snapped.

As Buzzsaw and the Sangheili argued, Tank jumped down from the Phantom onto the ice. He looked up and asked loudly, "Which way is Sangheili base?"

Buzzsaw leaned out and pointed in a direction. "About thirteen clicks that way."

Tank nodded and headed off. The Phantom left.

It took a good while before Tank reached the location of the base (Hunters were pretty slow after all) but eventually, he reached the place.

To Tank, it didn't look like much. A good chunk of the place seemed like it was under construction. It was also way too oversized for a squad of five or six.

Tank looked around. He could see Zen. He was with a purple-armoured Sangheili and he appeared to be talking to him.

Tank looked around again, this time to see if there was a way to get down that wouldn't kill the Lekgolo controlling his legs.

He spied a white armoured Sangheili, almost invisible due to the snow. He appeared to be carrying a Fuel Rod gun and a large sack of unknown objects.

Then the white figure roared, "UUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!"

* * *

"Seriously?!" Zen complained. "It's barely eight in the morning!"

"Never mind about that!" Tracer said, jumping up. "Run for it!"

So they did.

As usual, they were the last one to get inside the bomb shelter.

"You need to get closer to the shelter." Miara said critically.

"We would if we didn't have to keep rebuilding the same wall." Tracer grumbled.

Atar held up a pack of cards. "Well, we may as well start now."

"Okay, but I'm not playing against Tracer." Zen said. "I'm pretty sure he cheats."

"No." Tracer said smugly. "I'm just that good."

Zen sighed and lied down on one of the bunks.

"What I don't understand," Zen said. "Is why you guys put up with all this crap? I mean, if this is a group of rejects, then surely we'd be allowed to just leave?"

"If only I could make that happen." Atar grumbled. "If we were allowed to leave the army and do something useful, then we would've done that already."

"So why can't we?"

"Command believes it to be dishonourable for us to leave the military." Tracer said, looking at a fan of cards. "I don't know how they figured out that one. It's already a massive dishonour to be in this squad, what makes leaving this place a dishonour?"

"Command has their reasons." Miara said, putting down the Sangheili equivalent of a straight flush.

"Yeah, their flawed reasons." Tracer replied, putting down the Sangheili equivalent of a royal flush.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." Miara said in disbelief.

Tracer chuckled in amusement.

* * *

Tank stared at the scene in bewilderment.

He didn't know what he expected when the white one shouted 'Utarz', but whatever he expected, he did not expect a full blown rampage in an attempt to kill a teammate.

Who were these soldiers and what was wrong with them?

The white one was firing fuel rods at the blue one who was fleeing in a Ghost. In fact, it looked like the blue one was putting barely any effort into avoiding the shots, almost like he was used to this and he knew what to do.

This went on for about an hour, with the white one not showing any signs of giving up. However, as the blue one turned into a corner, the white one turned around and walked to a side of the cliff, almost directly below where Tank was standing. As Tank watched, the white one attached some brownish packages to the side of the cliff, and then walked away a fair distance.

At this point, the blue one drove through an exposed passageway and near the side of the cliff. At this point, the white one held up what looked like a button of some sort and then pressed it down. The blue one seemed to know what would happen and quickly spun around and zoomed away.

Thankfully for the blue one, it took a while before the packages exploded.

Unfortunately, the explosion was so strong it reached up to where Tank was.

Tank stumbled, backing away from the edge. As he straightened himself, he heard a loud **CRACK**.

Tank looked down and saw that the portion of the ledge he was standing on had come loose from the explosion.

Due to this, it was starting to fall from the cliff.

"Oh." Tank said. He would've sworn if he knew any words.

And then he started to fall.

* * *

Repora watched in amazement as the cliff practically fell apart from the C-12. All the pieces fell together in one great big pile, destroyed beyond recognition.

"I really have to make that stuff again someday." Repora said to himself.

Repora climbed over the wreckage in order to get Utarz. True, he could go around, but that would take longer.

As he was climbing over, he saw a grey piece of armour sticking out from the rubble. Curious, Repora bent over and pulled it out. It was hard.

Eventually, he pulled the rest of the armour that the piece he was pulling was attached to. To his surprise, he found a Hunter. An unconscious Hunter to be precise.

"You shouldn't be here." Repora said.

Utarz pulled up in his Ghost. "Hey, have you given up or something? Because I- Whoa! Where'd that guy come from?"

"I don't know." Repora said pleasantly. "Should we tell Atar?"

"Pfft." Utarz shook his head. "No. He'll probably become paranoid, tell us to strengthen our defences…"

"And to strengthen our defences, we'd need more explosives! Which I can make!" Repora exclaimed. "I'm going to tell Atar!"

"I hate you so much." Utarz muttered.

"Me too!" Repora called as he went to the bomb shelter.

* * *

"Is he finished?" Zen asked.

"Can't be." Tracer pressed his head against the door. "He only started three minutes ago."

"Can you hear anything?" Miara asked.

"No…"

**KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK**

Tracer jumped back and massaged his head.

"Go away." Atar called.

"Guys!" Repora called back. "There's something you should see out here!"

"Unless you finally killed Utarz, we don't care." Atar replied.

"But I found a Hunter!"

Tracer blinked. "A Hunter? You mean an Mgalekgolo?"

"Yeah!"

"Alright, we'll come out." Atar said. "But only if you promise that you won't shoot at us."

"Silly Atar! I only shoot at Utarz."

"At least, you try to." Zen muttered.

"Alright… that'll have to do." Atar sighed, opening the door.

"Yay!" Repora jumped up and down like a video game character. "This way!"

They followed him to a massive pile of rock and rubble. The fact that that was there wasn't all that surprising, but the giant, armour-clad figure that was on top of it was.

"You were telling the truth!" Miara said.

"Of course I was!" Repora said cheerfully.

Utarz, who was leaning on a nearby wall, said spitefully, "I bet that if I told you that this lug was out here, you'd send me on my way."

Everyone ignored him.

"This isn't right…" Atar muttered. "What would one of these things be doing out here?"

"He may be injured." Tracer said. "We should take him to the medical bay."

"Right," Atar turned to everyone else. "Who are our strongest soldiers?"

Repora raised a hand. No-one else did.

"Right then," Atar said, annoyed. "Repora, Zen and Utarz, drag the Hunter to the medical bay."

"You can't tell me what to do, Atar." Utarz grumbled.

"General, or sir." Atar snarled. "And if you don't do this, I will give Repora permission to stab you until you die."

Utarz sighed and grabbed a leg.

* * *

Tank was floating in a black void for what seemed to be three seconds before the world started to come back into focus.

He wasn't outside anymore. He was in some sort of room on a large table. A purple-armoured Sangheili was standing over him, holding some sort of instrument.

The Sangheili barbled in its language.

"What?" Tank said groggily. Then he blinked and said, "Repeat?"

The Sangheili said the same thing, except this time Tank understood it as, "Are you okay?"

Tank nodded.

"Good. My general will like to have a word with you."

Tank really wanted to stand up. Unfortunately, his body wasn't built for bending.

"Tank has job to do." He said.

"Well, you can do it once my leader has asked you a few questions."

Tank said nothing.

Taking his silence as a 'very well', the purple Sangheili opened the door. A Sangheili general walked in, glaring at Tank in distrust.

"Good morning." He said to Tank. "I am General Atar. Who are you?"

"I am Tank."

"Your **real **name."

Tank stayed silent

"The silent type, are we?" Atar growled. "Let's try again. Why are you here?"

"I wish to speak to Zen." Tank spoke.

"Why?"

Tank stayed silent.

"Who are you working for?"

Tank stayed silent.

"Are there more of you?"

Silence.

Starting to lose patience with Tank's silence, Atar growled, "I know that Hunters travel in groups of two. Where is the other one of you?"

Tank was silent for a bit. Then he said gruffly, "Dead."

Atar looked at him. Then he said, "My apologies."

Tank shrugged. "You did not know."

Atar went back to questioning. "Right… do you work for command?"

Silence.

"Does command need Zen? Is he getting out of here?"

Silence.

"You may think that you're being smart with the whole silence thing," Atar growled. "But you're not. I'll have you know that I killed a human Demon once! And I'm sure that they've killed plenty of your kind as well. So you better tell me what I want to hear, or you won't be saying anything ever again."

Tank stopped listening once Atar mentioned the word 'Demon'.

"You killed a Demon?" Tank asked. His tone betrayed surprise.

"Yep!" Atar said with relish. "Back in the day, anyhow. Ripped out his spine while he was still conscious. Mind you, that little encounter took a toll on me as well."

Tank stared at Atar. Then he said, "I must speak to Zen."

"Why?"

Instead of silence, Tank said, "I am not allowed to say."

"Why not?"

"My leader has forbidden it."

"Do you work for the Covenant?"

Tank hesitated. Then he said, "No."

Atar looked at Tank for a bit more. Then he turned and left, gesturing for Tracer to follow.

Everyone else in the squad was outside the door. Tracer shut the door so that Tank wouldn't hear anything.

"So what did you get out of him?" Miara asked.

"Only that his name is Tank, he's working for someone outside the Covenant and he wants to speak to Zen." Atar replied.

"Nothing else?" Miara asked. "Did you tell him about the human Demon you killed?"

"Wait, what?!" Zen exclaimed.

"Yeah…" Atar grumbled. "But he seemed more impressed than intimidated."

"Hold on," Zen held up a hand. "You killed a human Demon."

"Back before I got brain damage." Atar said with pride.

"But then… why are you here?"

"Well, I did get brain damage."

"But still, a human **Demon**. Someone who does that shouldn't be here!"

"Can I interrogate him?" Repora asked.

"Negative." Atar replied. "We want information, not a shivering wreck."

"What I want to know is what he wants with Zen." Tracer said. "Sure, he's a good soldier, but if he doesn't work for the Prophets…"

"Then he's got a good gig going on." Utarz said from across the room.

Atar turned and shot a plasma bolt at Utarz.

He yelled in alarm and ducked down.

"In any case," Atar continued, not bothering to look at Utarz. "I don't think Zen should speak to Tank until we know exactly what he wants."

"It could be important." Zen said. "Although, I'm not sure if I'm that important, really…"

"I think that we should give Tank what he wants." Tracer said. "If we don't, we'll have to keep him here and that would use up supplies."

"Do Hunters eat a lot?" Miara asked.

"Yup. You have to feed each Lekgolo in its body. Individually."

Atar grumbled, but said, "I guess you're right."

"So… do I go in?" Zen asked.

"May as well."

Zen opened and went through the door. Tank looked at him.

"You wanted to speak to me?" Zen asked.

"You are Zen?" Tank asked back.

"Well, yes…"

"My leader wishes to speak to you."

Zen blinked, then said, "Why didn't you say that before?"

"Only you may hear." Tank replied.

Zen sighed. "So, where do I meet your leader?"

"If I can make radio call, I will arrange meeting."

Zen looked at Atar. He looked like he was sure he was going to regret this, but he nodded anyway.

Tracer went in and helped Zen get Tank off of the table, which was no easy feat.

After nodding curtly, Tank held up his cannon arm. It beeped.

"Iro." Tank said. "We need a meeting point."

* * *

**Author's notes**

**Activate the actual plot line!**

**Now, only one person voted on the poll I put up, so… no ask blog.**

**Ah well.**

**Thanks for watching.**

**Potato.**


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